Scratching Input Files After They Are Copied

After each input file has been copied, FATSCOPY can tell your tape management system to reset the expiration date of the input file to a specified number of days after the current date. If FATSCOPY expires all of the files on a volume in a single job, it can reset the volume expiration date so that the tape can be returned to scratch status after the files expire, making the tape available for reuse.

If you are doing a migration from one set of tapes to another, or from one system to another, you probably want to allow this expiration. If you will still need the input data sets later, you should not use this option. 

By default, FATSCOPY leaves the expiration dates intact, unless you specify that the input files be scratched.

Q: Do you want to expire the input files after they have been copied?

No¹ – click here to skip ahead.

Yes¹ – Add TMSINPUT=SCRATCH to your COPY statement, unless you are using Zara tape management, in which case you should use TMSINPUT=ZARASCR after considering the “Important note” above; or

Add TMSINPUT=SCRCOND to your COPY statement to scratch the input data set only if the output data set is successfully cataloged.

You can choose how many days will be added to the current date to get the new expiration date of the input files. By default, 4 days are added to the current date, but you can pick another value.

Q: Do you want to use a different value to be added to today’s date to calculate the input expiration date?

Yes¹ – Add ADDXDAYS=n to your COPY statement, where “n” is the number of days to add to the current date. We recommends a value NO LESS THAN 4.